The Fear of Fear
by platypus72
Summary: He's a son of Phobos, the god of fear. He's a misunderstood outcast who tries to hide himself to not hurt others. Unfortunately for him, his extremely dangerous and sometimes uncontrollable powers make it necessary for Camp Half-Blood to track him down to prevent him from hurting civilians. All he wants it to be left alone, but it's not what he can get. Please read and respond!
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, being me comes with a lot of morality issues. My inability to distinguish what is and is not an ethical use of my powers. Is it wrong to distort someone's vision? Make them see their deepest fears and relive their regrets? Yeah, probably. Probably why I stay awake at night. Probably why I try to stay away from people, so I don't emotionally destroy them. Probably why Camp Half-Blood is trying to find me. They don't want a dangerously misunderstood 'psychopath' running around with no control of his abilities and a misinterpreted anger at the world. They think I ran away because of me 'not fitting in.' The constant neglect of other campers who were afraid of me. Sure the constant feeling of being an outcast that went along with people talking behind my back wasn't all that fun. Saying things like 'creep' and 'devil' when they thought I couldn't hear. To be honest, none of that really bothered me too much. People are afraid of what they don't understand, and with me being the only one of my kind, I get it. Hell, I'd be afraid of me too. Being the son of Phobos came with some pretty negative stigmas.

Every day I wake up wondering the same thing; Am I a good person? Have I done everything right, hell, _anything_ right? I really, _really_ want to be. My 'scary' powers make me look like a demon, wanting to destroy everything. In reality, I just want to help. I want to be needed and useful, but that's impossible if everyone doesn't want to be near you.

Okay, now, I know I come off as a self-loathing loser but, when when you're living alone in the middle of the woods because a bunch of extremely well trained demigods are after you with orders to use extreme force if I show any resistance you start to get a little concerned with your own morality.

My dad is the Greek god of Fear, so my main ability is forcing powerful, seemingly real hallucinations on people that represent their deepest fears. It has the worst tendency to leave people a little bit messed up and make me into a monster.

Right now, I'm hiding in an abandoned trailer in the middle of the woods, only entering civilization to get food. I've had a few run-ins with the demigods that are hunting me down, but I typically escape pretty easily. I feel bad about it but, they need to just let me be.

I stepped out of my trailer in the morning half-naked. Why dress up for people that aren't there? At this point I wished I wasn't, because the trailer was completely surrounded by demigods, pointing their swords and spears at me. I groaned, raising my arms at my side. "Why can't you guys just leave me alone? I don't want to hurt any of you." I said with a frown, dropping my arms angrily.

"We wish we could Jacob, we do," one of the kids called out, "this isn't fun for us either."

"Shut up, Evan," another kid snapped at him, "Just give up please, Jacob. Nothing bad is gonna happen to you, we just need you back at camp."

"It's not about what might happens to me," I said, grabbing a shirt from inside the trailer and slipping it on. "It's about everyone else." I walked back outside, letting a black mist with a hint of purple spill out of my fingertips and envelop my hands. "You all know what I can do, please just go away."

A few of the people saw the mist coming from my hands and took slight step back, but they didn't retreat. One of the kids, Evan, began to charge me, his spear pointed right at my torso. I sighed, pushing my arms out straight on both sides, allowing the black mist to explode into a sphere that engulfed everybody there. I cringed, hearing the almost immediate screams of the fearful. I didn't like to think about what they saw, because it's always terrible.

"I'm so sorry…" I mumbled, walking back into the trailer, grabbing the backpack I had, which was always ready for a random evacuation, and slinging it over my shoulder. I grabbed my pitch-black sword and walked back outside, passing through the black smoke until I was in the open woods again, leaving the terrifying ball of fear behind me.

Then, another demigod threw himself out of the bushes, lunging his sword at me. I only had enough time to lift my sword for a weak parry. In my shock, the kid managed to punch me in the face, making me fall on the ground in a dazed confusion. Before I knew it, he had handcuffs over my wrists, with my arms behind my back. He pulled me to my feet, holding on to the handcuffs.

I tried to use my powers, but nothing was able to come out. I sighed, looking at the kid, "these are those handcuffs that mess with your powers, aren't they?" This isn't the first time they've used them on me.

He nodded with a laugh, "that's right, Jacob."

 _That voice._ I knew that voice. There's no way.

"They sent _you? Really?_ " I said, "I can't be THAT important."

He took off his helmet, revealing the face of Percy Jackson, Poseidon's gift to man, one of the greatest heroes of all time. That's a VERY long time. "Yep, sorry man."

I groaned and looked at the rest of the demigods, who were starting to get up and snap back to reality. Once they regained their sanity, they started glaring daggers at me, which didn't exactly make me feel comfortable about the ride back to camp. I looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact as Percy walked me onto a chariot and sat me down, taking a seat across from me.

"Why'd you have to keep running, Jacob?" He said with a sigh, "we just wanted you to come home."

"I was home," I said, gazing at the run-down trailer below me as the pegasus in front of the chariot began to take flight. "Everyone is safer when I'm not there."

"Why don't you try, I don't know, NOT emotionally scarring people?" Evan spoke up, sneering at me.

"It's not that simple, don't you get it?" I yelled at him, "I can't always control it, sometimes it just happens and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm a ticking time-bomb that is due to explode at some time that no one knows. That's why I can't come back."

Evan scoffed and turned away, looking at the sky around him. I turned back to Percy pleading with him to let me go.

"What if I snap?" I asked him. "What if I hurt people? What if I hurt…" I paused for a second, "Annabeth?"

Percy's laid back look turned into a harsh and threatening glare. I guess the possible infliction of pain, intentional or not, on his extremely beloved girlfriend was a no-no. "Then it'll be the last thing you ever do."

I sighed again, "Percy please, I can't go back. I can't."

"With those handcuffs on, everything will be fine." He assured me. "Just sit back and relax, we'll be there in no time."


	2. Chapter 2

I sat in silence, staring at the floor of the small chariot occupied by me, Percy, and Evan. Percy kept trying to engage in small talk with me, just so I feel more like a friend than a prisoner. It wasn't working. Every time he would say something to me I would barely even acknowledge it. I lost. It's over. I can't protect camp from myself.

After another failed attempt to talk to me, Percy sighed. "Jacob, you know we're your friends, right? Talk to us."

I chuckled a bit, breaking my silence. "Doesn't really seem like it." I said, shaking my handcuffs.

Percy rolled his eyes, obviously having enough of me for the day. He turned to Evan, "keep an eye on him, I'm gonna take a nap." He said, to which Evan nodded, turning his attention to me.

A while passed, Percy was fast asleep on the chariot, and I watched the ground as we flew over it. In the distance, I could see a large body of water. _A lake…_ I thought to myself, an idea popping into my head.

I turned to Evan, examining him quickly. I knew basically nothing about him, not even who his godly parent is. I guess it's time to mess with him.

"So, Evan," I said, seeing the look of surprise on his face when I actually spoke to him, "why'd you charge me back in the woods? You're not in charge, and the person who IS in charge didn't tell you to. Why'd you do it?"

Evan laughed, "Percy was the one who wanted to talk to you, not me."

"That's a lame response…" I said, raising an eyebrow. "I think I know why. Your godly parents, it's Aphrodite isn't it?" He looked at me, but didn't say anything. I laughed, "your silence speaks volumes. That's why you charged me, huh? You're all looks, nothing else." I saw him tighten his grip on his spear, his knuckles turning white. "I'm sensing a bit of an inferiority complex. Everyone says Aphrodite kids are good for nothing, unless you need your makeup done."

"Shut. Up." Evan said sternly, trying to make himself look big.

"You attacked first to prove that not only you, but all Aphrodite kids, are more than just pretty." I continued. "I know your fear." My eyes flashed a dark purple. "You're afraid of the negative labels that come with your lineage. You're afraid of everyone laughing at that poor, pathetic Aphrodite kid who tried to pick up a sword."

Evan sat in silence, a depressed look spread across his face as he stared me down.

"Today, Evan, I'm offering you a chance to be more than just a pretty face." I stood up, carefully walking towards him as the chariot soared through the sky. "Take off these handcuffs, and you can _save_ the rest of camp from me. You've seen what I can do, do you really want that happening to everyone there?"

My eyes now alternated between flashes of dark purple and black. I was taking a page out of the Aphrodite cabin's playbook. You see, as a spawn of Phobos, I had an ability that worked the same way as charmspeaking, except mine took much longer to work. Mine involved breaking down the person's spirit so I could tap into their fear. Nothing drives your actions better than being afraid. Once I have that, I have him.

Without saying a word, Evan stood up, quietly grabbing the keys from Percy, who was still sleeping. He walked towards me, taking off the handcuffs and tossing them to the side. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief, looking at my wrists in joy. I guess they don't work on _all_ of my powers.

"Much obliged, mate." I turned to him, smiling, "send my regards to camp."

I looked over the side of the chariot to see the lake right below us, perfect timing. I jumped, diving head first with my arms above my head. _Please gods let this be deep enough_ , I prayed to myself right before I hit the water. The height of the fall really drove me deep into the lake. I wasn't the best swimmer, and that certainly didn't comfort me when I couldn't figure out which direction was up. I blew bubbles out of my mouth, watching them as they went up. I followed the bubbles, kicking wildly to reach the surface until I finally burst my head out of the water. I looked up at the chariots as they began to fly out of sight. I thought I was in the clear, until I saw another person diving towards the water.

"Oh… shit…" I said, seeing the kid hit the water. Immediately, the water began to change form. A giant, almost octopus-like tentacle formed out of it, and it grabbed me tightly. I cursed loudly as the water began to pull me into the air, before viciously slamming me back against the surface. I felt all the air escape my body as I struggled to breathe, and I began to panic. The water octopus then threw me out of the water, landing on the shore next to the lake. I gripped my chest, desperately trying to regain my breath. I saw Percy riding towards me on a wave that he must have made himself, an annoyed look on his face.

"Okay, let me get this straight." He said, reaching the shore and walking towards me, "You tried to escape the son of Poseidon… In a lake?" He slapped the handcuffs back on me, ripping me off the ground and walking me back towards the chariot, which had landed to pick us up.

"Wasn't… my best...idea.." I said, coughing, "but I had to try something."

Percy rolled his eyes, throwing me back on the chariot that no longer contained Evan.

"Where'd Pretty Boy go?" I asked, looking around.

Percy sighed, "he requested to ride in another chariot, shockingly." He sat me down, walking back to his seat and sitting as well. Percy was lucky, he didn't get wet, due to his heritage and all, he didn't have to do the rest of the trip soaking wet like me.

We sat in silence for another five or ten minutes before the chariot began to descend. I saw the camp in front of me, the place that used to be home. Everything looked normal, happy, and peaceful. All I could think about was not messing it all up.

The chariot landed, and Percy walked me out of it. A few other demigods began to walk behind us for support that Percy didn't really need. I could see a few campers looking at me, some scared, some confused, some just surprised. I saw some friends, some people that I completely just left. I looked at the ground, not able to look at my former friends in the eyes. Sometimes, what you have to do is not at all what you want to do.

"Jacob!" I heard a familiar voice shout, "Jacob, where the hell did you go?"

I looked up to see Jenna Roberts, my former best friend, whom I didn't even say goodbye to.

"Jenna, I…" I began to say, before being interrupted by a tight hug. I couldn't hug her back due to the handcuffs, but I'm sure she understood. Percy stepped back for a second, letting us get acquainted.

"Your were gone for a year!" She shouted at me once she had let me go. "How could you do that?"

"Jenna I had to," I said sadly, "please, please just understand."

She didn't say anything, but she was still clearly very upset with me. Percy motioned for me to keep walking, and I nodded. "I'll talk to you later," I told her with a small smile.

"You're damn right you will," she said, walking off towards her cabin.

Once she was gone, Percy nudged me. "Come on, it's getting late. You'll just stay in your cabin tonight."

 _My Cabin_. It hardly felt like it. I hadn't stayed in it for a year and even then it didn't feel very homey. It was just a really dark cabin, and just looking at it could make you sad. I could see multiple campers surrounding the cabin, obviously there to stand guard once I was inside. Percy walked me in, took off the handcuffs, and turned to the door.

"Goodnight Jacob, Chiron will want to speak to you in the morning." He said, before closing the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

After looking around the cabin, I wasn't sure if I had actually ever left.

Everything was almost the exact same as when I left; most of my clothing was still in the drawers, a few pieces of garbage lying on the floor, even my bed was still not made from the day I left. It was surreal really. Almost as if my life altering decision never even happened.

I laid down in the unmade bed, putting my hands behind my head as I stared up at the ceiling. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. This whole day has been a complete rollercoaster, and now, after a whole year of effort, I'm right back where I started. I wanted to scream. I wanted to let my frustration out. But I couldn't. My cabin isn't power-proof like those handcuffs were, so me screaming could be catastrophic.

I checked my watch, seeing that it was only 9:30 at night. I sighed, knowing I wouldn't be able to fall asleep any time soon. I sat in silence in the cabin until I heard a knocking on the window. I raised my eyebrow, looking at the window. Why wouldn't they just use the door? I shrugged, getting up slowly and stretching my arms, walking towards the window. I opened it, surprised to see Jenna standing on the outside of the cabin.

"Jenna?" I asked, looking around outside to see the guards just standing there, obviously not caring that Jenna was here. I yawned, rubbing my eyes to pretend like I was sleeping, "What are you doing here? I was sleeping you know."

Jenna managed a little smile, before frowning again. "We both know you never sleep this early, but that's not the point. I'm not here to joke around with you you know. You said we'd talk later, right? Well, it's later."

I was a little surprised by her tone, but it did make a lot of sense. "Right, sorry… um, look Jenna. I'm so sorry I left, but please hear me out." I paused for a moment, seeing her nod. "I know I've made a lot of mistakes. I know I haven't handled everything the way I should have. But I had to leave. I couldn't hurt anyone here, I couldn't hurt you-"

"No!" She yelled at me, slapping me hard across the face. "You don't get to do that! You can't go around hurting people and claiming you did it to protect them! That's not how this works! Can't you see that you've hurt people already?"

I grabbed my cheek in surprise, looking at her with a shocked look. I had never even thought of that before. I didn't know what to say. I just stood there, staring at her, my eyes flashing different shades of purple and black. Normally, that meant that I was either using my powers, or I was extremely pissed off. But now, it was neither. It was just a mix of regret, disappointment, and sadness.

She noticed my eyes, and a slightly panicked look crawled across her face. "Jacob I'm so sorry just, calm down." She said, obviously thinking I was about to have an 'episode.'

"No, I deserved that," I said, as my eyes turned back to their usual green. "It takes more than that to set me off. Why don't you come inside, we can talk in private."

She breathed a sigh of relief, before shaking her head sadly. "Can't. They won't let me in, and they sure as hell won't let you leave. I'm surprised they even let me talk to you to be honest."

I nodded, "makes sense… but Jenna I-"

"You didn't even say goodbye.." She interrupted me, getting straight to the point. "Do you know how that felt? I mean.. I really, really liked you and.. That just stung so badly. We've known each other for 5 years… since we were twelve. We've been through everything together and we were so close.. And I didn't even get a goodbye.." She said, letting a teardrop roll down her face.

"Jenna.." I said, feeling worse and worse as she spoke, "I wanted to, but I couldn't let anyone know I was leaving… please understand…"

"No, I don't understand." She said sternly, "I don't understand why you had to leave me, leave all of us. We were so close, I even thought we'd…" She trailed off, not finishing her sentence.

"I couldn't let myself hurt you," I said, feeling tears start to come up, "So I didn't give myself the chance to."

"Well, Jacob. You did." She said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I know. I know I did." I said, putting my face in my hands. "I messed up, badly. And I'm so, so sorry. Please, can you forgive me?"

She paused for a moment, before nodding slowly. "I can, it won't be right away, but I can."

I smiled, leaning myself out the window and hugging her. "Everything will be alright… I won't leave again, I promise."

She hugged me back, thank the gods, and started to cry softly. "I hope I can believe you." She said, quickly kissing me on the cheek. "It's good to have you back, Jake." She turned away, walking back to the Apollo cabin.

"That was cute," said one of the guards standing next to the window.

I glared at him, which was basically a threat, and closed the window. I laid back in my bed, somehow managing to fall asleep quickly.

I woke up in the morning to a loud banging on my door. "Wake up! Time to talk to Chiron!" I heard Percy yell. I groaned, pulling myself out of bed and putting on clothes. I opened the front door, surprised to see just Percy and no other guards. He smiled, "good morning, no handcuffs today, don't make me regret that."

I nodded, following him out of the cabin, "you've got nothing to worry about, I don't think I'm running off again any time soon."

"Good," Percy said, reaching the Big House and opening the door. Inside I saw Chiron in his wheelchair form, but no Mr. D. I guess that's a good thing, I've always hated that god.

"Jacob, my boy!" Chiron shouted happily, rolling over to me to shake my hand. "It's great to see that you've returned!"

I smiled, "a little against my will but yeah, I'm back. It's good to see you Chiron."

He smiled, always being a very kind centaur. "Well, I'll just get right down to business." He said, reaching for his shirt pocket and pulling out a black ring. "I asked a few Hephaestus and Hecate kids to craft this for you and they had it done before I even woke up this morning! The Hephaestus campers made it and the Hecate ones charmed it. It should contain all of your powers, just take it off when you need to use them."

I raised an eyebrow, taking the ring and slipping it on my finger. I felt the effects immediately. It felt like I was a small fire that someone simply tossed water on. "Wow, thats.. Thank you, Chiron." I said, gazing at the ring.

"Don't thank me, thank the campers who made it for you," he said with a smile, "but under NO circumstances, and I repeat NO circumstances, do you take that ring off in camp. Do you understand?'

I nodded, looking back up at him, "crystal clear, Sir."

"Good! Now, we are going to give you free roam of camp. You will be monitored but you shouldn't even notice. Please just don't try to run."

"I won't, I promise." I assured him before he dismissed me. I walked out of the Big House, deciding to head over to the dining hall to grab some food, and also meet up with old friends.


	4. Chapter 4

Looking around the dining hall, there were a lot of new faces. Maybe I forgot a lot of people, or maybe there were just a lot of new campers. I saw a few of them looking at me with a range of expressions; from confusion to surprise to, sadly, fear. I managed a weak smile, with a face that said 'um, hi.'

I saw the Hermes kids all sitting at the same table, having some stupid argument about stealing stuff.

"C'mon, Miles," said the one kid, "you couldn't even loot the camp store! There's no way you're better than me!"

"Michael Jordan didn't make all of his free throws either," Miles retorted, "Doesn't mean he's not the best."

"Don't call yourself to Jordan, dude," a different kid said, "that's an unfair comparison."

"Alright, how bout a bet," Miles said, "whoever can steal the most stuff by the end of the week wins. Losers clean the cabin for a month."

"Sounds like a bet you'd lose," I said, walking to the table and smiling at Miles. He looked up from his food, a look of shocked surprise across his face,

"Jacob?" He stood up quickly, "holy crap it is you!" He walked over to me, giving me a tight bro-hug. "Where the hell did you go?"

"Yeah, I, um, went away for a little bit," I said awkwardly before taking a seat at the table across from where Miles had been sitting. "But I'm here now."

"Good, things were starting to get a bit boring without you here," He said, sitting back down, "allow me to introduce you to my brothers." Some I already knew, many were new to me. I shook a few of their hands and sat back down.

"Jacob here is one of the most powerful demigods you'll ever meet," Miles said, talking me up in a way that I really didn't want to hear.

"I wouldn't say that…" I mumbled.

"Oh, well, yeah," he said, "sometimes he loses control and turns into an unstoppable fear monster, but that's still pretty solid."

I twitched, hearing the words 'unstoppable fear monster' used to describe me. That's exactly why I left, so I _wouldn't_ be an unstoppable fear monster.

"Um, what?" Said the one kid. "Who's your godly parent?"

"Phobos," I said, "God of fear. Boo. But trust me, that won't be happening any time soon." I lifted my hand to show them my ring, but almost fell out of my seat when I saw that it wasn't there. "No, no, no, no…." I stuttered, looking around under the table, "where is it, where is it…" I began to panic, standing up quickly and putting my hands behind my head.

"Jacob?" Miles asked, raising an eyebrow, "You okay, man?"

I could barely hear him, feeling my power slowly start to rise up in me. I cursed, bolting from the dining hall, trying to get as far away from people as I could. _This can't be happening.._ I thought to myself as I approached the forest. I was so close to being in the clear, when the black smoke exploded from me. I could hear a few shocked screams as I fell to the ground, feeling all the energy leave my body. Thank the gods, I didn't hear any constant screaming, which meant that no one was in my range. My face hit the dirt, and I almost passed out. I could only exert enough energy to push myself on my back, staring up at the sky through the massive and violent black smoke engulfing me.

"Everyone stand back!" I could hear someone shout. I thought it was Chiron, but I couldn't be sure. This tends to make so much noise that it's extremely hard to understand anything from outside it. I took a deep, long breath, trying to relax myself. I could see the smoke slowly start to recede back into my body. Finally, it was all gone, but my energy was not at all back. I managed to lift my head, seeing a huge circle of dead grass around me. Thank the gods it was just grass. Once, I accidentally knocked down the Morpheus cabin.

"Jacob!" I hear someone yell, "Jacob! Oh my gods, are you okay? What happened?"

I looked up, seeing Jenna kneeling over me, helping me up. I wrapped my arms around my knees, looking down at the dead grass as I sat there.

"I panicked.." I said, not looking up, "my ring was gone…"

"Your ring?" Jenna asked, not too sure what I was talking about.

Before I could answer, Chiron ran up to us and picked Jenna up, telling her to go to her cabin. She tried to refuse, but Chiron wasn't having it. She sighed, slowly walking off.

I lifted my head a bit, seeing almost every camper surrounding me from a distance, looks of shock painted on their face. I groaned, looking back down. Great, now everyone thinks I'm a freak, and in record time too.

"Everyone back to your cabins!" Chiron shouted. Some of the crowd thinned out, but most didn't listen. Chiron pulled me to my feet, putting a hand on my shoulder. "What happened? Where's your ring?"

"I don't know… I don't know…" I managed to get out, "I noticed it was gone and I panicked… lost control…" My powers were often unleashed with periods of high stress, and losing the only thing that contained them was certainly a stress inducer.

I explained to him what had happened before my little episode, telling him about breakfast at the dining hall.

"You said you were sitting at the Hermes table?" He asked, to which I nodded. He sighed, looking at the crowd and shouting, "Hermes cabin! Come here right now!"

A few of the kids looked like they didn't want to be anywhere near me right now, but they obeyed and walked towards us.

"Now, I'm only going to ask this once," he said sternly, "which one of you stole a ring from him?

Oh gods… I should have known. Why did I shake their hands?

None of the kids spoke up for a second, to which Chiron shouted at them again. Finally, one of the kids, I think Miles said his name was Shaun, stepped forward, handing my black ring to Chiron. Chiron grabbed it quickly, giving him a look that said _we will talk about this later_ before dismissing the rest of the campers. He handed me the ring, and I swiftly put it on. Like clockwork, I immediately felt it's calming abilities.

"This isn't your fault," Chiron told me softly, "it's important to know that."

I nodded slowly, "No one got hurt right?" He nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just relax for the rest of the day," he said, "you're excused from camp activities."

I thanked him, managing to walk off under my own power. I walked through to crowd, not saying anything as they let me pass. Miles patted me on the back, saying "sorry, man" as I passed. I walked towards the Apollo cabin, knocking on the door.

Some kid (whom I hopped had missed breakfast today) answered the door. "Yeah?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, is Jenna in there?"

He nodded, calling for Jenna behind him. He walked away, and she took his place.

"Oh my gods, Jacob, are you okay?" she asked hysterically, walking out of the cabin and closing the door behind her. She hugged me tightly, rubbing my back.

"I'm okay.. I'm okay…" I assured her. "Hermes kid stole the ring that controls my powers, and I panicked.."

"That's okay, no one's gonna touch that ring again. Don't worry."

I nodded, finally letting her go. "Thanks, Jenna. Do you wanna go for a walk? I need to blow off some steam…"

She smiled, grabbing my arm and pulling me away, "of course! Anything for you, Jacob. Let's go!"

"Can't believe I ran away from you for a year," I said, walking next to her.

"Yeah, I know." She agreed. "I'm the best."

I laughed, walking with her to the lake.

* * *

 **Hello! If you've read this far, I'd like to know what you think! Any and all criticism is welcome and appreciated! Thank you!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! Hope you've enjoyed this so far. I've enjoyed writing it but I'm not sure what you guys think. If you like it or hate it, please type up a quick review. Happy reading!**

We stood on the shore of the lake, looking out over the water as the sun shone high above us.

Jenna was trying to talk to me, but my mind was still on my little episode early. All I could think about was what would happen if I lost the ring again. What if I couldn't get to a safe distance fast enough. What if I ruin somebody.

"Camp was alright while you were gone… but it, well, just wasn't the same.." Jenna said, "it- Jacob? Earth to Jacob." She started snapping her fingers in front of my face.

I jumped a bit, shaking my head quickly and looking at her, "oh, um, I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

She sighed, putting her hand on my back and patting it lightly. "Just forget about what happened today, okay? It wasn't your fault."

"I know I know.." I said, "but I was just hoping that maybe, after all that time, people forgot about what I did. I hoped they forgot I was a monster. But now, I'm right where I used to be."

"Hey!" She said sternly, "you are NOT a monster! If you keep thinking that, then you might turn into one. You're one of the nicest, most considerate people I've ever met, and I'm so happy I know you. Please don't be so down on yourself."

"Okay okay…" I said, smiling at her, "I'll try."

"No, no." She said, shaking her head, "You will. Do or do not, there is no try."

I looked at her, raising an eyebrow, "did you just quote-"

"Star Wars? Yes."

 _Oh my gods_ , I thought to myself, looking at her in amazement.

"Yes, I know, I'm wonderful." She laughed, gazing at the water, "Hey, you need to blow off some steam." She took off her shoes and socks, setting them on the sand. "Let's go for a swim."

She ran into the water, jumping in with a big splash. I shrugged, taking off my shoes. "Don't you have somewhere to be today?" I called at her as I took off my shirt.

"Eh, Chiron will understand." She called back, motioning for me to join her. I walked slowly into the water, moving cautiously since it was still pretty cold. Jenna groaned, walking towards me and pulling me deeper. "C'mon, you baby. You get used to it quickly." She said.

"I know I know," I said, "I just like to take it easy."

"Well, too bad." She said, pulling me under water once we were deep enough, taking me by surprise. I immediately pushed my feet off of the bottom of the lake and propelled myself upward. I breached the surface, gasping for air.

"Hey!" I yelled, "I wasn't ready for that!"

She giggled, swimming next to me. "Yeah, well, too bad. It happened."

I rolled my eyes, "thanks, appreciate it."

"That's the plan," she said, putting her arms over my shoulders and intertwining her fingers together behind me neck.

"Oh, um, Jenna. What are you-"

"Just shut up for a second," she said quietly, leaning her head into mine slowly. She planted her lips on mine, kissing me gently. I was a little surprised at first, but kissed her back gently. We stayed like that for a few seconds, simply enjoying each other.

Finally, I broke the kiss, stepping back from her quickly. "No, no, no, no. I can't, I-"

"Jacob no I- this is what I want-"

"I can't do this," I shook my head, "what if I hurt you? I couldn't live with that, I can't let myself do that."

"Jacob I've wanted this since before you left," she assured me, "and you leaving only made me want it more. I know you won't hurt me."

"It's not always that simple.." I groaned, "how close were you to my explosion earlier? What if you were close enough?"

She frowned, shaking her head, "then I'd just have to forgive you. But I know I won't need to, because I know you won't. I trust you, Jacob. That's all that matters."

I sighed, rubbing the water out of my eyes. Of course I've felt that way about Jenna for a very long time, and me leaving had a lot to do with her. Sure I didn't want to hurt the rest of the campers, but mostly, it was her. I ran away from a relationship, and now, it looks like I might run right into one.

"I don't know, Jenna…" I sighed, "you know I like you a lot, but-"

"Jacob Austin Langford," she said sternly, reciting my whole name, "I can handle it. You don't need to worry."

"Okay okay okay," I said quickly, managing a smile, "I'm in."

"Perfect," she smiled, giving me a quick peck on the lips, "we'll take it slow, I don't want to freak you out _too_ much. Now let's go get dried off."

I nodded and followed her out of the lake. I would say that I wasn't freaking out, but I totally was. I'd only ever been in one relationship before, and that did not end well at all (can you guess why?). I just did not trust myself, _at all._

We walked around camp for awhile, before some other Apollo kids pulled Jenna away for some important music or medicine business or whatever it is they do together. I had started to feel a lot better from that morning, and decided to head over to the arena to work on my swordsmanship. A year off from basically any physical combat (I usually just use psychological warfare) has made me pretty rusty. I walked in, seeing a few kids dueling while others watched. One of the kids who was fighting saw me enter and told his partner to stop as he walked towards me.

"That was quite the impressive light show you gave us earlier," he called out as we approached each other.

"Wasn't really a light show, but thank you," I said sarcastically, "don't make me use it on you."

He laughed, reaching out his hand to shake, "I'm Eli, son of Ares."

"Jacob, son of Phobos, nice to meet you." I shook his hand firmly.

"Phobos?" He raised an eyebrow, "hey, are you that kid that disappeared a year ago? I got here apparently a few days after you left. Everybody was panicking, you must be pretty damn special."

"I wouldn't say so," I replied with a chuckle.

"Whatever you say," he shrugged, holding up his sword, "how bout we see what you got?"

"I'm a little rusty, but let's go." I stretched my right arm out at my side, watching as black smoke enveloped it. A couple of the kids there looked a little bit concerned, but they had nothing to worry about. My special sword, a gift from my dad, appeared out of the smoke. The blade was the darkest black imaginable, made out of some material that Phobos wouldn't even tell me. He said it was called the 'Blade of Fear,' and that looking at it for too long could make you hallucinate some pretty frightening images, but you had to be physically wielding the sword for it to have that effect.

"Okay," Eli said, "that was pretty cool. How'd you do that?"

I shrugged, "family secret, now let's go."

Eli smirked and charged me without hesitation. He was fast, but I managed to parry it away and slice at his legs. He jumped over my sword, swiftly punching me in the nose while I was defenseless. I staggered back, wiping my hand under my nose to see that there was blood dripping out.

"Gotta watch out, man," Eli said, "attacks like that make it too easy for your enemy to hit you. If I was a bad guy, that would have been a sword, not a fist."

"Again, I'm rusty," I shrugged, waiting for him to attack again. He swung his sword at my abdomen, but I quickly rolled out of the way and kicked him in the side. He grabbed his ribcage, looking at me and raising an eyebrow.

"That was a good move, Jacob," He said, raising his sword again. "I'm impressed."

I smirked, and swung at him again. He easily parried me, and swung at me with much more force than before. I managed to block it, but he just kept coming. He forced me to just keep blocking his attacks, not giving me any time at all to return any. Eventually, he wore me out to the point the I fell on the ground, dropping my sword. He held his at my throat, smirking.

"I was going a little easy on you there," he said with a chuckle, "but I'd be happy to teach you a thing or two." He reached out his hand to help me up.

I took it and got to my feet, grabbing my sword and making it vanish into smoke. "Sounds good to me, sword fighting was never really my strength anyways."

"Good," he said walking me over to the other kids that were there, "now let me introduce you to my siblings."


	6. Chapter 6

Surprisingly, I got along extremely well with the Ares kids. Where most of the camp would freak out over my 'light show' (as Eli would call it), they thought it was, well, cool. I guess it didn't hurt that they were all technically my aunts and uncles.

"So how'd you do that?" A girl named Alexa asked me, "is it just like a magic trick or what?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "I wish, that'd make it much easier to explain. Dad tells me that there's this energy that builds up inside me. I can control it and use it however I want to, but there are times when it just all lets out. Periods like extreme stress, shock, confusion, panic, and even fear."

"Can you do that whenever you want to?" Another one asked, "why even use a sword?"

"Not exactly," I explained, "apparently, humans only use about 10 percent of their brain capacity, and nobody knows what we could do with more, much less 100 percent. Dad says that my powers work almost the same way. Nobody, not even he, knows what a Phobos kid can do with 100. He historically doesn't have many kids, but he's only ever seen one get past around 40. But _that_ , what you saw early, is well over what I'm at now, I just can't control it."

"So what are you at?" A younger boy named Martin asked quietly.

I shrugged, "I don't know," I admitted, "Phobos is the only one who could know for sure, and he's not exactly around that often. I've been trying to figure out, but it's just too difficult. I've looked into some of my historical siblings, trying to compare us, but it doesn't get me anywhere."

That was another reason why I didn't trust myself. Some of my siblings have done some _really_ messed up things with their powers. A guy named Jim Jones got more than 900 people to drink some kids drink mixed with cyanide. At least, that's what the Mist gets mortals to think. According to Dad, he was only at around 30, and he killed nine. Hundred. People. The worst part about Dad telling me that was the fact that I couldn't tell if he was disappointed in his psychotic son or really, really proud.

We all just talked for a little bit longer, finally getting off the subject of my abilities. Some of the kids said goodbye and walked off, leaving just me, Eli, and Alexa.

"So, Jacob," Eli said once everyone else was gone, "all that energy you've got in there," he said, tapping my chest, "ever consider putting it to use?"

"Um, what do you mean?" I ask, taking a slight step back.

"Oh, come on, man," he laughed, "with you on the front lines, no one would ever stand a chance! You could be a part of something special, you can help make this world a better one. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

I froze, looking back and forth between him and Alexa, "are- are you serious? I can barely control this shit! No way I can use it in real combat yet, I'm not even close! I-"

"Wow, ok, Jacob, calm down." Alexa said, stepping towards me. "Our dad is the god of war, we're always looking for ways to improve. Just sleep on it, alright? Give yourself time to get better, we don't want to rush you or anything. Once you get it all under control, we could really use you."

I took a deep breath, nodding slowly, "okay… okay, I'll think about it. The thing is, I have no idea if I'll _ever_ get it under control. I'm not sure if I can."

Eli opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by someone behind him.

"Jacob!" I heard Jenna shout, jogging up to us, "there you are! I almost thought you ran off again!" She walked up to me, giving me a quick hug.

I smiled, hugging her back, "no no, just hanging out with some new friends." I said, gesturing at Eli and Alexa.

"Hello, Jenna," Eli said with a smile, "you know Jacob?"

"Uh, yes." She said, putting her arm around my waist and patting me on the chest. "For a very long time, yes."

"Oh," Alexa said, pointing at the both of us, "you two are..?

We glanced at each other, before nodding in unison.

"Only been here a few days and you're already getting some girls!" Eli said with a laugh, punching me in the shoulder.

"Yeah, how 'bout that?" Jenna said flatly, "well if you don't mind Jacob here promised to eat dinner with me tonight, nice talking to you two." She grabbed my hand and started walking me out of the arena. I quickly waved goodbye to Eli and Alexa before turning to Jenna.

"I don't remember talking to you about dinner..?"

"You didn't, I just _really_ don't like them." She replied, leading me to the dining hall.

I raised my eyebrow, glancing over my shoulder. "You don't? What's wrong with them?"

"They're rude," she said, shrugging, "they only seem to care about themselves and they think they're better than everyone else here. Like being the child of Ares instantly makes you the strongest person in camp."

"Weird, I didn't get that impression."

"Let's just make sure to kick their asses is capture the flag tonight," she said sternly.

"Wait," I said, stopping abruptly, "is it friday?"

She laughed, rubbing her eyes, "oh gods… did you forget?

I nodded, sighing. I never really cared for capture the flag, mostly because my swordsmanship was, well, pretty bad. The only way I ever really did well was by using my powers, and I obviously don't like to do that either. Besides, I can't do that anyways. Chiron strictly told me not to take off the ring, so I'm basically just gonna stand there holding a pretty cool looking sword.

"Oh, don't worry," she said with a giggle, "I'll protect you."

"Oh, please," I said, scoffing, "I'm not gonna hide behind an archer the whole game."

"Yeah, we'll see about that."

The rest of the night went pretty quickly, leading up to the game. The cabins separated themselves into fair and even teams, but hadn't decided where to put campers from the smaller cabins (me, Percy, and some other minor cabins).

Jenna stepped forward from her team, the red team, and pointed at me and a few other campers. "We'll take them, you guys can have the rest."

"Ha-ha, that's a good one," said someone from the other team. He stepped out of the crowd, revealing himself to be Eli. "We'll take Jacob, and y'all can have everybody else."

There were a few concerned murmurs from both sides; the blue team not wanting to be out-manned, while the red team didn't want to be scarred for life. I looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "you know I can't use them, right?"

"Actually," Chiron said, walking towards me, "since all magic is allowed, it would be unfair of me to not let you use your powers. You may take off the ring, but keep it on you just in case." I nodded, and he turned around to look at the rest of the campers. "Alright, Jacob will be on the blue team, the rest will be on the red." Immediately, the red side erupted in protest, obviously not liking the fact that I'm allowed to scare them. The blue team stayed quiet, being content with less people but more power. I saw Jenna looking at me with a sad look on her face, before smiling and mouthing the words _good luck_. I grinned, turning and joining my team.

"Alright," Eli said, gathering the team into a circle, "how are we gonna play this? What's the strategy?"

"Send him into the front lines," a kid said, pointing at me, "we'll set a new record for fastest win."

"Then where's the fun in that?" Another kid spoke up, "have him defend the flag, that way we can't lose."

"Uh, how bout I play the middle of the forest?" I said, "that way I can take out enemies running through, and stop those in our way."

The rest of the team looked at each other, before Eli nodded, "good idea, I'll stay close for backup, if you need it. Now let's kick some ass!" The team roared, grabbing equipment such as swords and armor and running into the forest. I made my sword appear, and I ran in after them. I took my position towards the middle of the river that separated the two sides and waited for the game to start. I looked down at my hand, exhaling quietly as I slowly took off the ring, putting it in my pocket. I could feel the energy surge through me, and I sighed out of pleasure. It _seriously_ felt good, all that power. I love it, but hate the aftertaste.

The horn sounded, and the game began. I saw an enemy try to sneak past my right side, and I blasted a ball of black smoke at him. I turned away quickly, not wanting to see what it did to him.

"Nice shot, Jake," Eli said to me, chuckling, "now, clear the way for our first wave of attackers."

I nodded, pressing my hands together. A bright, purplish/blackish light started to form inside of my palms, and I thrusted them forward, sending a long wave of smoke that covered almost the entire battlefield. I saw some campers yelp and jump behind trees or rocks, but others weren't so fortunate. A wave of the red team stormed forward, immediately fighting the ones who had hidden. I stayed put, making sure none of them were able to sneak by in the fight.

I turned my head, seeing an arrow whizzing right at my face. I quickly lifted my sword, blocking it off. It made me take a step back, but I managed to stay on my feet. I looked around, trying to find the shooter, but I saw nothing. I stepped into the river, moving slowly and keeping my head up and alert. Another arrow shot directly past my face, making me jump back in surprise. Suddenly, someone tackled me, pinning me against the dirt. I immediately started to build up energy, ready to unleash it all on my attacker, before I noticed it was Jenna. I felt all the power leave my body, almost as if I had put the ring back on. I wasn't gonna let myself do that to her.

"Hello, sweetheart," she said, smiling down at me, "nice reflexes, that arrow was going straight for your eye."

I rolled my eyes, frowning, "shouldn't you be sniping people right now?"

"Actually," she said with a devilish grin, "my team thought it best if I, oh I don't know, distract you so we can win. Sorry." She kissed me on the forehead, getting off of me and pulling me to my feet, "c'mon, hot stuff. Let's go to jail."

"I don't want to hurt you, Jenna." I said, pleading with her.

"You and I both know you're not gonna do that," she said with a laugh, holding my hands behind my back, "that's why I'm here."

Dammit, she was right. No _way_ I was going to do that.

"That was a lot easier than I thought it would-" Jenna began to say, before being blindsided by Eli. He pushed her to the ground, obviously knocking the wind out of her. She laid on the ground, gasping for air.

"Dude!" I yelled, rushing to her side, "that's my girlfriend!"

"I know!" He yelled back at me grabbing my shirt and throwing me towards the river. "She'll be fine, now stay on our side!"

I looked over my shoulder, seeing Jenna start to get up. She glared at Eli angrily, knocking an arrow and firing it at his head. I jumped in front of him, slicing the arrow away before sprinting back to our side, "come on!" I yelled, sprinting to our side and crossing the river, Eli right behind me.

"Now that you're back in the fight," he said, pointing to the far side of the river, deeper into the woods, "a lot of them are trying to go that way, let's go stop them." I nodded, and we took off.

We ran for awhile, and I saw nobody. I stopped in my tracks looking at Eli. "Are you sure your intel was right?" I asked, "there's no one out here."

"Well, actually, there is someone," Eli smirked, motioning right in front of me.

"Um, are you on drugs, there's no-" suddenly, a boy materialized out of nothing. I jumped back in surprise, staring at the kid, "who the hell are you?"

He was a tall kid with pitch black hair, and terrifying red eyes. His lips were curled in a devilish and just plain evil grin. I didn't recognize him being a camper, and I raised my sword in self defense.

"Hello, Jacob," he said with a voice about as evil as his eyes, "it's nice to finally meet you. We have big plans for you."

"Sorry about this, Jacob," Eli said, punching me in the face, knocking me out instantly.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up in a dark square room lit only by four candles in each corner. My legs were tied to the chair I was sitting in, and my arms were tied together behind my back. All of my fingers were wrapped in duct tape, with what felt like my ring under it. Whoever put me here really didn't want me using my powers.

I looked around the room, seeing a single figure leaning against the wall, reading a magazine.

"Alexa?" I said, seeing her head jump up, "what- what the hell is going on here?"

She smirked, tossing the magazine on the table next to her. "Good, you're awake." She walked over to the door, knocking on it, before returning to her position and picking up the magazine.

The door opened, and in walked three more kids; Eli, the scary looking kid from the woods, and another who I didn't recognize.

"Man, you were out for awhile," said Eli, "thought we might have accidentally killed you."

"Eli, what is happening?" I said, beginning to panic, "what are you doing?"

"Shhhhh," he said, putting a finger up to his mouth, "I'll let Damien explain that."

The scary kid stepped forward, with a grin that said _I'm about to rip your god damn throat out._ He grabbed a chair from the side of the room, turning it around and sitting in it backwards, facing me. His terrifying red eyes just stared right into mine, and he said nothing.

"Who are you?" I pleaded, "what'd you want from me?"

"Well, I'm Damien, obviously," he said flatly, "and I'm your cousin, son of Deimos."

 _Oh gods._ Deimos; my uncle, Phobos' brother, god of terror. I froze up, my eyes wide in shock. "No, no way." I said, shaking my head quickly, "Phobos says Deimos never has kids, they're-"

"Too powerful?" Damien said with a smirk, "Uncontrollable? Well, he's right." He stood up, grabbing a knife from the table. "Far more powerful than you. Terror always outweighs fear. Deimos didn't try to have me, but here I am."

"What'd you want from me?" I said angrily, glaring him down.

"Well, we want you to join us!" He said with mock excitement, "we need a man on the inside, especially one who can do what you can do."

"What? What'd you mean?"

"Oh, did I forget to explain that part?" He rolled his eyes, motioning for Eli, "you do the rest, I don't feel like dealing with this right now."

Eli nodded, and they swapped positions. "So," he said, "we're a bunch of demigods who are fed up with the treatment we get from the gods. We do so much for them and get nothing in return. Camp Half-Blood is a disgrace, and it needs to be destroyed. And with you, no one will stop us."

I looked at him in shock. I had only known him for a day, but what he was saying now absolutely shocked me. He and Alexa both seemed like really nice, cool people. Definitely not the kinds of people who would want to murder all their friends.

"Are you serious?" I managed to get out, "you can't do that, all those people are innocent! Those people are your friends and that's their home, you can't do that!"

He chuckled, shaking his head, "you are so blind, Jacob. Those people don't care about you. You see the way they all look at you. They fear you. They feel safer when you're not around. They hate you, and you should hate them."

I stared at him, saying nothing.

"Join us, and you can give them a real reason to fear you," he said, "and once you've done your thing, Damien can finish them off."

Behind him, I could see Damien grin devilishly. The kid obviously loved to hurt, and probably even kill people. He made me sick to my stomach.

I looked around the room before turning back to Eli, "and what if I refuse?"

"We'll kill you," he said in a very relaxed tone of voice, which was _extremely_ uncomfortable. "Or maybe we'll just kill that little girlfriend of yours, gods know I want to."

I clenched my duct tape-wrapped fists, glaring him down. My eyes flashed all shades of dark and disturbing colors as I could feel the rage build up inside me.

"If you so much as lay a finger on her," I said through clenched teeth, "I will fucking kill you."

He smirked, obviously not very intimidated by my threat, "not if you're already dead. Damien, kill him."

"I'm the one who gives orders around here, you swine," Damien spat at him, going to the table and picking up a knife. "For the record, I'm killing him because I want to, not because you told me to."

Eli rolled his eyes as Damien approached me, twirling the knife in his fingers. His face made it look like this was his favorite activity, and his eyes said _hell yeah._ "Do you feel dead yet, boy?" He sneered at me as he put the knife to my throat.

"You'll never get away with this," I said, "they will find you, you'll all die."

He shrugged, "Don't care, see you in the underworld!'

He removed the knife from my throat and thrusted it into my gut. I screamed, watching the blood ooze out of the deep cut in my stomach. Damien kept going, stabbing me repeatedly all over my body. I felt the air leave my body, and my eyes began to fall shut. Damien was laughing like a maniac, while his comrades just watched with grim faces. I managed one last scream with blood shooting out of my mouth, before I collapsed in the chair.

Suddenly, the scene around me changed. All of my open wounds vanished, and all the blood was gone. I looked around quickly, seeing all of the traitors just standing there, watching me. Damien started to laugh, dropping his knife on the floor.

"What… What did you d-do to me…" I stuttered, looking down at the ground while breathing heavily. MY eyes were wide in shock, and I could almost still feel the knife going in and out of my body.

"That, Jacob, is what I can do," Damien said, approaching me with his arms stretched out at his side. " _That_ is terror. That is what I'll really do to you, if you don't comply."

I didn't look up, my whole body was in shock. I know for a fact that what I do is nothing _near_ as terrible as that. I scare people, he makes people experience death. If he could do that to a lot of people at once… oh my gods.

"Aw, did I scare you?" He said sarcastically, "poor baby. Now, you're going to stay here until you changed your mind. The longer you resist, the more loved ones that die, starting with, oh I don't know, Jenna."

"No…" I said quietly, "No!" My fright turned to anger, and my anger turned to rage. Black smoke started to cover my body, and the traitors looked at each other in confusion.

"I thought you put that damn ring back on him!" Damien yelled at Eli, who stood there in shock.

"I-I did! He couldn't have gotten it off!" Eli yelled running for the door.

Damien sighed, shaking his head. "You're pathetic," he said to Eli, before vanishing into nothingness. Right as he did so, the smoke exploded from my body, enveloping everyone else. The explosion completely destroyed the chair, making me fall to the floor. I looked at my hands to notice that all the duct tape had also vanished, and my ring was still on my finger. They had made me so angry, that not even the ring could contain my powers. I looked around the room, seeing Eli, Alexa, and the other kid screaming on the floor. The smoke still covered the entire room, and I couldn't see the door.

"Good, Jacob," said a very recognizable disembodied voice, "you are at your strongest when you are enraged. Remember that."

"Dad?" I said, "where are yo-"

"This is no time for a chat, son." He snapped at me, "Damien could be back any second, so you must leave now. Your powers are very similar to his, you both have common abilities. I need you to imagine yourself in camp right now, believe it with all of your heart."

I nodded, closing my eyes and trying to only think about camp. I thought about the dining hall, the cabins, the rock wall, the forest, the campers, and especially Jenna. I just wanted to go home, but nothing was working.

"Dad, I can't-"

"Yes you can. All my children can once they reach 25 percent."

 _25 percent?_ I thought I was somewhere under 10. Just knowing how far I had progressed gave me confidence, and I felt my body relax. The scene around me began to fade, and the last thing I heard was my father saying, "good.. I will talk to you soon."

Suddenly, I was back at camp, laying on the ground, staring at the sky. A few people jumped back, shocked to see a kid just appear out of nothing. I managed to sit myself up, putting a hand on my chest as I felt completely exhausted.

"Someone.. Get.. Chiron…" I managed to say, before collapsing on the ground again, my eyes starting to shut.

The last thing I heard before I passed out was someone screaming my name.


End file.
